good evening, everyone. i'm anderson cooper in newtown, connecticut. a town that's heavy with grief, loss and a profound, profound silent sadness. a short time ago, state police put names to the numbers they identified by nachl the 20 children and six adult women shot dead in their school. the kids, all of them, were either 6 years old or 7 years o old. most of them were girls. one young victim's father, a man who wants to speak, a man who wants you to know about his little girl who was lost. you're going to hear true accounts of really remarkable bravery, shown by people, teachers inside that school yesterday. there's a lot we want to tell you about in this hour. we also just found out that president obama will be visiting here tomorrow to show his support for the families, to meet with the first responders

and to mourn loss with all of them and with the neigh. ♪ holy night all is calm ♪ ♪ all is bright >> a little while ago in strat ford, connecticut, about 20 miles from here, family and friends of one of the teachers killed yesterday, victoria soto gathered to remember her and share their sadness. vicki soto was a first grade teacher, 27 years old, one of the six adults shot yesterday inside the school. and back here in newtown, i want you to hear some voices from this community. this community tonight of people who are anguished, family members and the professionals who had to overcome their shock and their grief to do their jobs. >> all the ones that i know of

by the one weapon. i only did seven of the autopsies, the victims i had ranged from 3 to 11 rounds a piece. and i only saw two of them with post range shooting. >> emilie alice parker was the sweetest little girl i've ever known. my children are grieving, my siblings across the country are grieving, and we're just devastated that someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives. and for no reason. and we can only pray that we find understanding in the days and weeks to come. >> wow. a lot of people are searching for understanding tonight. i just want to point out.

you all know the name of the shooter by now, and we want you to know the names of the victims. so we're really going to be focusing on them as much as we can tonight, and, of course, in the days ahead on this program. i'm not going to keep repeating the name of the shooter because you already know it i don't want that name to go down in history and i think a lot of people here in this town do not want the name of the person, the killer, to be known in households and to go down in history. they want the names of the victims to be remembered. and we will remember them tonight. susan candiotti is joining me now with the latest on the investigation. you were in newtown just hours after the shooting happened, susan. what are you hearing from people today? >> well, we're hearing that everyone wants to find out why, why this happened. what led this young man to do this. and we know that authorities are tracing him way back, as far as they can go, but primarily concentrate on the time he was a teenager up until now when he's 20 years old.

and, in fact, cnn obtained a photograph, one taken in 2005 when he would have been about 13 years old. we also know that authorities have been spending the entire day chasing down leads, also looking at anything he would have written down, letters, correspondent. and they even went to various gun ranges as well as a sporting goods store because they got a tip, a tip that the shooter had gone there to purchase a gun on tuesday. well, they talked to the employees, they looked hard at all the surveillance videos from that day and they say they have not been able to pull anything out of that. that lead just did not pan out. but we also learned from the atf, and eerson that they found three more weapons at the house that the young man shared with his mother. now, they didn't say what those weapons were, but my sources tell me they are three older model rifles. and so they've been tracing, so far have traced only one of them

to his mother. anderson? >> and what do we know now about the three weapons that were taken into the school? >> well, those three we now know according to our sources that all three of them were found right there with the shooter. those were two handguns and a long gun that we now know called a bushmaster. and you heard the medical examiner refer to the long gun specifically today. he said that the shooter used that long gun to kill several of his victims. some with anywhere from 3 to 11 wounds each, anderson. just a vicious, cold blooded killing. anderson? >> susan candiotti, appreciate your reporting tonight. we're obviously being very respectful and not approaching anybody who is in mourning or in loss. and we certainly don't want to intrude on anybody's grief, but some families are speaking. and they do want you to know

about their child, their child who is lost. we just heard from the father of one little girl who was killed yesterday. and he said i don't know how to get through something like this. but the man who said those words will have to find a way, of course. and so will so many other families here. his daughter, 6-year-old emilie parker was one of the children killed and carrying the unbearable pain. robbie parker went before cameras tonight to tell the world about that pain and about his daughter. and show his love and admiration for the little girl he described as extraordinary. listen. >> my name is robbie parker. my family is one of the families that lost a child yesterday in the sandy hook elementary schools here in connecticut. i've been contacted by so many people and agencies wanting to know how we're doing, and i just

thought, you know, this might be the best way to share those feelings with everybody. first of all, i would really like to offer our deepest condolences to the families affected by this shooting. it's a horrific tragedy and we want everyone to know that our hearts and prayers go out to them. i can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you and i want you to know that our family and our love and support go out to you as well. at this time, our thanks go out to so many people, so many friends and family and complete strangers who we don't know, for all the love, condolences and support you've given us. my daughter emilie would be one

of the first ones to be standing and giving her love and support to all those victims, because that's the type of person that she is. not because of any parenting that my wife and i could have done, but because those were the gifts that were given to her by her heavenly father. as the deep pain begins to settle into our hearts, we find comfort, reflecting on the incredible person that emily was and how many lives that she was able to touch in her short time here on earth. emi emilie was bright, creative and very loving. emilie was always willing to try new things, other than food. she touched the lives of everyone she came in contact with. shechs an exceptional artist and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an tuptd to draw a picture or make a card for those

around her. i can't count the number of times emilie noticed someone feeling sad or frustrated and would rush to find a piece of paper to draw them a picture or to write them an encouraging note. emilie's card making was exprezzed beautifully this last october when she placed a very special card that she had made into the casket with her grandpa who also just recent lly died oa tragic accident. emilie was a mentor to her two little sisters, delighting in teaching them how to read, dance and find the simple joys in life. emilie's laughter was infectious and all those who had the pleasure to meet her would agree that this world is a better place because she has been in it. as we move on from what happened here, what happened to so many people, let it not turn into something that defines us.

something that inspires us to be better, to be more compassionate and more humble people. let's please keep the sentiments of love that we feel for our families and the compassion that we feel for others, even complete strangers, and keep them with us at all times. not just in the times of sorrow and tragedy. and let's do this so we can make everyone in this country feel safe. thank you. >> robbie parker speaking about his daughter, emilie. that's emilie in the bottom right corner. you talked about emilie being a

mentor to her sisters, even at the sender age of 6 years old. in the coming days we're going to be hearing more from parents who want you to know about their children. we're going to be learning more about the children, and it just adds to the horror of this event. the this entire community feels. we were there when robbie parker faced the cameras. i can't -- the strength fwr him to come out and speak at a time with such grief as we talk about compassion for others is extraordinary. >> it's incredible. to stand if our or five feet away from the father who just lost his daughter to gun violence and then talk about compassion and not letting this define all of us. and his advice to other people, the need to heal, this has got to be something that improves society overall and not just focusing on his own personal grief.

it is an extraordinary moment. in you think about all the people you know in your life, especially if you're a parent and have children, to imagine losing your child and then be able to face reporters to say thank you for the kindness that you received in this country just as people have found out about it. for posting things on facebook. it's really quite extraordinary. and when i was speaking further from him, he said look, i'm not angry. he has to feel that he has to be able to move on by showing compassion to others so others can learn from what he is going through, not only him, but his sister-in-law. here's what she told reporters just before her father spoke. >> our family is from utah. i got a call yesterday morning from my sister saying there had been a shooting and there was a lockdown at the school.

i was giving her words of comfort as she was frantically attempting to find out what was going on and what had happened. auld i could was assure in every other instance when a shooting happens, it's not the 5, 6 and 7 year olds who are going to be targeted. they're too innocent and perfect. as i tried to reassure her throughout the day, as i hopped into an airplane, as i left, i didn't know the status of my niece until we arrived in atlanta. >> and that's in large part why the family wanted to come out and speak to reporters. something else i wanted to mention is the father robbie is a physicians assistant treating children. they moved here eight months ago.

to lose their child like this is really unfair, it's hard to imagine. >> appreciate it, kim. glad you were there and we were able to hear from robbie about his daughter. yesterday, we saw some truly heroic efforts by teachers, by school administrators, by first responders. when the bullets started flying, so many teachers did what they had practiced. they usher canned the kids youu. the amazing part is how teachers were able to keep the kids calm. listen to some of what they had to say. >> they had a spot in the room where they were supposed to go to. >> can you describe that spot? >> it's between some bookcases against the call, where you

can't be seen by any windows. one of our doors wasn't locked so we went into a back storage room and locked the kids together. >> how did you keep the kids quiet? >> there was crayons and erp pa and weer to some up and had them color. >> what did you tell them? >> there were three other adults with them. they asked what was going on. we said we don't know. we asked them to stay quiet. it may be a drill, it may not. >> you didn't know at that point? >> we knew. i called the office and she told me there was a shooter. >> there was pound on the door. they said it was the police. we didn't want to open the door, so he first slid a badge under the door, but we had file cabinets in front of it so we had to move those. >> about 9:30, 9:40, we heard noises.

and the announcement system was still on. it did go off to what sounded like pops and gunshots. i'm not going to tell that to 5-year-olds. i said we're going to a safe area. and we're going to, you know, we read a story and we kept them calm. >> the teacher managed to take two children out of the hallway, pull them into the classroom. locked the door and moved everybody over to the other side of the room. >> when i saw those teachers and locked eyes with each of those separately, when i found the two children, if i could go back, i would embrace them. because i had no idea what they had gone through. >> one of the first victims to be publicly identified was victoria soto, 27 years old, a

first grade feeteacher. she was killed in her classroom. she's being mourned tonight, hailed as a hero. jason, how is strat ford remembering this young woman tonight? there was a vigil earlier. >> anderson, that vigil just wrapping up a few moments ago, everyone coming out here tonight, leaning on each other for support. a lot of those who are coming out here tonight wore green. green was one of soto's favorite colors. in terms of how they're remembering her, they're remembering her as a dedicated teacher. this is a young woman who actually wanted to be a teacher ever since she herself was a little girl. and when they came out here tonight, they sang "amazing grace." they lit candles. i also earlier today, anderson, had an opportunity to speak to one of the members of the soto family. they talked a little bit more about how they want vicki soto to be remembered. and they also talked about the heroic actions she took in her classroom to save her students.

>> the family didn't want vicki to be just another victim on a piece of paper. vicki was an outstanding teacher, well liked, well respected in her school community. and she was taken too early. she instinctively went into action when a monster came into her classroom and tried to protect the kids that she loved so much. >> can you tell me a little bit more about how she tried to do that? >> what we were told was she gathered her children into a closet and put herself in harm's way in between the gunman and the kids. and we just want the public to know that vicki was a hero. regardless of the intimate details of what took place in that classroom, vicki was doing what she knew was right in her heart and what she was trained to do to protect her kids. >> so many tears here tonight,

anderson. also here tonight was vicki's family. her younger sister kale lee. her other sister julian, her younger brother. kale lee at one point addressed the crowd, addressed all the mourners who came out here. and she said something she tweeted a little earlier. i'm going to read it to you briefly. hug your loved ones. tell them how much you love them because you never know when you'll see them again. and once again, the reason why the family said they decided to hold this vigil tonight, why they decided to release some of the pictures that you saw there earlier of vicki soto is they don't want her to be remembered as just a victim, anderson. they want her to be remembered as a woman who was a dedicated teacher, a woman who was a loving daughter, and someone who cared for her students, so much so, anderson, that she didn't even refer to them as students, she referred to them as her children. anderson? >> i think so many parents want people to know about their child, about their sibling.

if it's a teacher or a school administrator and really want to honor the life that they lived. i think that's an important point about not being referred to as a victim, but as a person, as a spirit who lived a remarkable life. and in the case of victoria soto, sacrificing her life to protect her students, it's extraordinary. you spoke with the parents of a young boy who was in victoria soto's class. we've heard from a lot of parents who are just so thankful for all the teachers. i imagine they were as well. >> absolutely. this is brianing robert and diane lacata. they say it's in part her quick thinking that's part of the reason why their son was able to make it out of that classroom alive, anderson. also part of his own quick thinking as somehow he was able, along with several other students to run directly past the gunman as he was in the

classroom and run out of the school to safety. and a very emotional interview i did with these parents today, they also conveyed that hair son, following this horrific day, their son very much loved his teacher. >> he's reassuring himself that he's going to be okay. he really, really, really cared about his teacher. he keeps saying i hope she's okay, i hope it's not her. enos that she's been hurt, but he doesn't know the end result. he knows the kids that he saw getting shot. he doesn't know the outcome. so i think he's reassuring himself in his 6-year-old mind. i know he's processing it, but i think he's reassuring himself. i think he's telling himself that it's going to be okay.

>> i did spend b time with the two of them. their son is very shaken. they had to put a sign on their doorbell to ask people not to ring the doorbell because every time it rings, aiden thinks it's the bad guy coming to get him. now, as hard as this day has been for their family, they also said to me that their hearts break for the so many other families that cannot go home to hug their children tonight and they wanted to make sure that message was conveyed, including to the family of victoria soto. >> there's still a lot about the chain of r of events that we don't know. we're trying to piece together the pieces as best we can. an update when we come back. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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>> the first shots rang out at the sandy hook school just as the morning announcements were being read over the loud speaker, as people could hear the sounds of the shooting over the loud speaker. tom foreman is in washington with the latest information on what we have about how the day unfolded inside that school.

tom? >> anderson, police are essentially constructing a map of all of the places that might have had connections to this shooter. for example, his brother's apartment down here in new jersey. across new york up into connecticut, his mother's house where she was found dead. and only about three miles away, of course, the school. to try to figure out what led him to this spot at that time. because they do believe that shortly after murdering his mother, he did drive the few miles from her house to this school and emerge in this parking lot with weapons very much like these to go into the school. now, let's look at the time line of what happened. that's really what they're trying to reconstruct. about 9:30 in the morning that's when we believe based on eyewitness accounts and police radio that he probably left his car. we think this is the one over here, based on the investigation, and came up to the front of the school. that's also when he encountered his first obstacles, because this is where the security doors were installed to keep people out. police later said the glass had been broken out of these. that's apparently how he got

into the school with those weapons. what we know is based on police reports, by 9:36 we have the first calls into the police station saying shooting was occurring inside the school. everybody in the school was alert alerted to the sounds in the school. and this is also significant. by 9:38, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes later, police were saying if not all of the shooting, the bulk of the shooting was over. a very short period of time in a very small area where where it all seemed to occur. what happened after that? well, it progressed even further by about 9:40 in the morning, police were calling for emergency medical technicians to come there, for ambulances to come. a very few minutes later, they called for a whole lot more ambulances to come. and by 9:50 or so in the

morning, they were essentially saying that the scene was secure, that they had a suspect who was down, they cleared the building and many children were being led out. as you can see this photograph from the newton b. and the situation was more or less secure. there was still an awful lot of work to be done, obviously, but as you can see, as we look at this time line, closer and closer, it really is coming down to a very short period of time, 20 minutes or less from the beginning to the end of this in terms of people really knowing what was happening. and now huge long, long search to understand why it happened. anderson? >> appreciate that. the latest information that we have. and as i said, we're trying to collect pieces of information as we get them and bring them to you. i want to show you a live picture right now in newtown. a candle light vigil. today and last night. people gathering, people just want to kind of be together. and sometimes just be together

in silence, sometimes talk, sometimes just hug and cry. we've seen all of that in the streets of newtown. we are getting new information tonight about the first person that was killed in newtown. the shooter's mother, nancy. >> it's become really a portion of who this woman was. the vinls i spoke to in some of the neighborhoods in this area paint a picture of this woman who attended these sort of weekly or monthly dice games in which she would gather with residents in this community, which they describe as a tight-knit groups who would play these dice games, garden and talk about landscaping. the joke is that the house behind me where all of this

incident took place is set back, and she would talk about doing the landscaping in the back and, you know, the landscape is really nothing people would see. it paints this picture of this woman who attended these sort of parlor-like games and yet at the same time had this collection of guns, some of which were very high powered guns, like the bushmaster, similar to what soldiers in iraq and afghanistan, similar to that type of weapon. so it doesn't quite jive with the scene that the neighbors paint of who this woman was during her day to day interactions with them. someone who kept to herself, she moved into the area about 1998. divorced with her husband years later. and her two boys grew up here. what transpired next really led to this incident has only raised more questions. that's sort of the thing we find being here. the more questions we get answered the more we have. and what brought this tragedy on

this town subpoena not really something that can be answered, it seems. >> a lot of people have a lot of questions in this community and elsewhere. sandy hook elementary had recently installed a new security system. including locking the doors at 9:00 a.m. that's around the time the gunman was able to force his way into the build, but they haven't said exactly how they got in. a former nassau county new york police officer and director of the elite intelligence and protection, is there any security system that, i mean, protects schools in this way? >> there isn't one that's designed to. you can fort fie the doors, upgrade the locks. one i think every school should consider, even before this incident was making these classrooms safe rooms in a sense. by fortifying the classroom dpoors, keeping them locked at all times and upgrading a lock

system. you could create a somewhat safer environment for them in an instance like this. if we're talking about turning our classrooms into somewhat fortified -- >> that's what it sounds like. >> that's a knee-jerk reaction. maybe we should put armed police officers in all our schools. that's just not feasible. i don't think that's an emotionally healthy environment for kids to learn in either. >> a lot of schools were designed to be open places, open for teachers, open for students. and now they're starting to have to rethink that, to not have the architecture of the school be quite so open. >> unfortunately, we're regressing is what this comes down to. these are institutions where we learn, where we absorb knowledge, where we're supposed to be safe in doing that or experiencing that process. and what we're looking at is the deteriorati deterioration of the culture.

this is a different format of the gun. we have issues here about failing to safeguard these weapons. >> the police say a woman who was wounded at the school is going to be instrumental to the investigation. at this point, what are police doing? >> they're continuing this investigation. you know, they're gathering evidence. they're trying to determine conclusively if he acted a i loan. they have to do that. they're preparing for possibly any future court cases. they're doing a lot of different things. they're trying to find out exactly what transpired in that classroom. did he leave us any messages, verbally, written, computer, so on and so forth. they're trying to vet this entire incident to find out what may have precipitated it. beyond the pare >> beyond the parents, i think of the first responders. this is a crime scene. you know, i shutter to think of what that crime scene looks

like. but they have to catalog it. they have to document it. >> yeah. i mean, you have to realize the emotionally, the toll this takes on law enforcement agency. as a rule, we deal with the underbelly of our society and part of our exercise is to insulate the general public from how dark this gets. these men or women went into this room looking at these children that were basically slaughtered, shot multiple times. these are babies. our babies. >> i appreciate you being with us. thank you very much. i'm sorry it's under these circumstances. we have a lot ahead. we're trying to get as much information as we can. we we're going to take a short break. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

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>> this is a very, very tragic. certainly our hearts are broken for the families here.

>> about 9:30, 9:40, we heard noises and the announcement system was so on. it didn't go off so you could hear what sounded like pops, gunshots. >> her teacher managed to take two children out of the hall way, pull them into the classroom, locked the door and move everybody over to the other side of the room. >> we just told a little boy about his sister now. just to see his heart, who am i going to play with, he said? >> when your first grader goes to bed and says mommy, anyone from my class last year, are they all okay? and you look at them and say i'm not really sure. >> you can never be prepared for

this kind of incident. what has happened, what has transpired at that school building will leave a mark on this community and every family impacted. >> some want to grieve in silence, others want to talk, talk to the media, loved ones, talk to even strangers on streets. there's a lot of people gathered out tonight, even though it's very cold. you were actually at one of the places, a kind of gathering point for people who want to talk to counselors. and what was that like? >> well, you know, i didn't know what to expect. because, you know, it was so raw still. i didn't know if people were going to go to this center. when we got there, there was

literally 100 cars in the parking lot. and out of respect for people's privacy, we weren't filming anything. but people were walking out with children. probably children from the school. a lot of parents walking with them into the school and there were psychiatrist, psychologists, children's counselors in the school. i think what was really striking is people were going in and staying in for a long time. i mean, this was a, i'm sure, grieving, but also healing going on. and also this whole idea that the community was sort of an individual. meaning that, you know, you saw that someone else was going through the same thing you were. and people were being comforted by that in some ways. >> it's interesting, i was talking to my mom who lost a son, my brother. and she was saying for her, it helped to talk about it. and i've heard that from a lot of people here, that it helps to talk. yet other people aren't ready to talk about it or can't talk about it. >> yeah. i think the timing seems to be

different for different people. which is why i didn't know what to expect. but it seems like this community for the most part is ready to talk. i mean, this is obviously a small sample size, but people are talking about it. and the feeling of isolation, thinking that i'm going through this alone, that no one quite understands what this has done to me can be quite painful and quite damaging long term as well. so if you see other people going through it, and even just being there in the crisis center with other people, i think is assumed to be somewhat therapeutic. >> other patients around the world are trying to figure out how to talk to their kids about it. i talked to parents last night whose kids were in the school and thankfully survived, they were waiting for their children to kind of bring it up to them. that's win way to do it. >> obviously the children in the school know. other children in the community know, even if they hadn't been watching television, in today's day and age. the thing that keeps coming back is they sort of direct the conversation. you sort of get your own

feelings in check first as an adult or as a parent, and then you fill in details as appropriate. as age froept. -- appropriate. leaving out graphic details. but this whole idea that you don't want to be false or you want to be very transparent. i had this conversation with my daughter. the first thing she asked me, she started asking me about some of the names of the children. i think that's interesting. they immediately want to humanize this. it was a tough conversation to have. she wanted to know if her school was going to be safe. i have to say look, daddy's school never had this happen to them. mommy's school never happened to her. we do the best we can to keep you safe.conversations. >> yesterday, there were reports the shooter's brother had said that he had a personality disorder. maybe he was somewhere on autotichl spectrum. those are two separate things. and i had never heard of autism being anything to do with a

preplanned act of violence. i think a lot of people who are children who are uh tisic are upset that the word autism is even being mentioned in relationship to this. >> i'm glad you said it because, you know, i looked this up again today. i talked to some of my experts i talk to in this sort of thing. there was no evidence at all, there's no evidence to suggest that someone on the autism spectrum is -- it could be preplanned violence. and people have violent outbursts sometimes, reactive violence. but preplanned violence just isn't something that's associated with this. i tried to make that clear all day. i heard that same thing. there's just no evidence of that whatsoever. also this whole notion, you know, asberger, whatever, that's something that's a neurodevelopmental disorder. it's not a personality disorder. the it's not a mental illness. it's a neurodevelopal disorder.

>> i hope that clarifies it. that's something we will try to repeat as much as we can. we don't want to give anyone a false impression about kids with autism. and again, there's still so much we don't know about the mental state of this gunman. sanjay, appreciate it. going to have more with sanjay in the 10:00 hour, another edition of "360." there's still a lot of information we're trying to go through. also getting new information. actually, i do want to ask you briefly about -- there's some information on secretary of state hillary clinton, that she fell and possibly had a concussion. what have you heard? >> earlier this week, she was dealing with a stomach virus. she fainted. when she fainted she hit her head. just today now, they say she likely had a concussion. so it took a few days to actually clarify that and make that diagnosis. so the doctors have recommended

that it's okay for her to be at home. that's very important. i think they have a low threshold for her being in the hospital. they're comfortable with her being at home, but also saying no strenuous activity and really no work. with a concussion, you want to make sure that the brain is sort of rested. literally they say don't watch television, don't read a newspaper, let the brain sort of rest. i' not sure she's someone capable of doing that, frankly, but that's what they're recommending. >> appreciate that. more from newtown ahead. jaymi's christmas shopping and was looking for gifts at best buy. you wanna see if walmart has similar gifts for less? yeah. let's go. samsung galaxy s3 -- over fifty dollars less than best buy! wow! fifty bucks! yeah! that's a pair of shoes. see for yourself if you could save on the gifts you want. walmart.

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>> another maz killings in newtown, connecticut, have prompted some to want to turn schools into fortresses. we talked about that a short time ago. even though it may sound desi desirab desirable, it's not really possible. how can we all protect our children, not only at home in communities but at school. what do we give up to gain a measure of security, knowing no strategy can abc chutly guarantee our kids will be safe in school. >> michael blow has some ideas on how to avoid mas casualties if a gunman is inside your school. how do you respond if there's kids all around? >> that's where the training comings in. >> blow is the head of security. he had to once lock down a school. he took us through an elementary school that officials want to name, showed usz what to do if the nightmare unfolds.

>> exits are key. you have to find the nearest one? >> absolutely. and it's important to be familiar with the building. that's why again we encourage just little things, just a building familiarization, just walking the outside of the building so you know if you leave this particular door if it comes to a creek or a parking lot or a busy intersection. >> adults and students, he says have to have that exit awareness, but if you're stuck inside, michael blow says while bathrooms may be a tempting place to hide first, not a good idea. a confined space and usually no way out. courtyards he says are equally tempting but also not the best places because they're often enclosed. >> this is a classroom, we heard shot, we don't know where he is, what do we do? do we lock and turn lights off, close windows? >> certainly there are a host of things that we would do in an energy. that would include locking doors, to make sure that we are able to fortify that entrance

way as best as we can. again, if there are no safe alternatives for evacuating the building. and that way if someone was to walk by the room, they wouldn't have an easy picture of anyone that is in the room. >> adults in the room, he says, should talk the kids through it as calmly as possible. >> what about large rooms like gyms? go in? avoid it? >> there's not a lot of places to conceal yourselves as you see there. but there's a way to get to the other side of the building. >> we want to add another voice to the conversation about safety. hector garcia has endevoted much of his professional life as a former school police kmeef. he joins me now from west palm beach, florida. i appreciate you being with us. we made obviously strides since the columbine school shooting back in '99. but where are we now and what more do you think needs to be done? >> first of all, thank you, anderson, for having me. one of the things that i would

advocate for is once again a resurgence of the grants that were fro provided by a federal government that effectuated so many of these training sessions for our schoolchildren and staff members that they performed so admirably during these tragic times as a result of that training that was administered under grant programs. anything, other grant programs, putting police officers in schools where they can advocate also and be protectors of schools have fallen on to budget cuts as well. we would like to see that come back into effect. in addition there have been many studies granted by the u.s. secret service. there are many advocacy group, a safety advocacy council, national serassociation of scho law enforcement officers who all came together and drew upon the best practices and the lessons learned and developed many of

these plans. we would like to see a resurgence of that again so we can hone what we have now and make it even better because that was something that was vital in this tragedy. >> i think it's a good point you raised in the training. i was amazed, the teachers i talked to, just how they had drilled for some sort of an event, whether it was like this or some sort of emergency event. they got the kids into the corners. in one case, the teachers sat the kids down and read to them to kind of keep them calm and continued to read all the way through this until s.w.a.t. team members knocked on the door and told everybody it was okay to come out. how widespread is that kind of straining in schools across the country. >> well, anderson, this training is now mandatory in so many states. and i believe that it is widespread throughout the country. now, the frequency of the training is critical. the larger school districts are

going to do more training and more drills and therefore be better prepared. i question those private schools, those private institutions, maybe the smaller ones that are not really foc focusing on this as much to really step up to the plate. and also come to the same levels of frequency of training and drilling. and of also reviewing, as the experts said earlier, those exit plans. have things changed around their neighborhoods? you have to continue to live this -- make it a living document and continue to evolve and to master that crisis plan and drill it down, drill it down, all the way to the teachers and even the parents who may be there. >> i appreciate your expertise. the tragedy in this community has touched people around the world. this has made the front page of papers all around the world. in england, several soccer teams

wore black arm bands to honor the victims. one team noted the tribute was at the request of the player themselves. take a look at these pictures from brazil. black crosses for each of the victims in rio dejaneiro. many newspapers compared it to tragedies that unfolded on their own soil. and some speculated whether this could be the event that shifts america's attitude on gun control, either because of the age of the victims or because americans can only tolerate so many senseless deaths from gun violence. be right back.

this is cnn. this evening, a community in shock and mourning, just one day after an horrific event that